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Sleeping 50 Feet High in a Tree (pictures!)

It only cost me $18 and 45 minutes of my life to build this hammock. BEST. INVESTMENT. EVER. I am a long time backpacker and rock climber. I figured, if I learn the basics of safe tree climbing and if I can get my hands on a hammock then my overnighters into the woods will become a lot more thrilling. I was right!

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TRIP #1

First, choose a sturdy tree!

Second, climb it.

Third, set up camp.

Fourth, sleep safe and wake up 50 feet closer to the sky!

Fifth, actually this one should have been first because SAFETY FIRST! I was tied onto the tree 100% of the time, even while sleeping. I was very happy to find out that my 30 degree sleeping bag and a Ridgerest was enough to keep me warm down to the 28 degree temperatures that night.

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TRIP #2

Here is my campsite. I was planning on ordering a silnylon tarp after this trip but the $9 poly tarps really come in handy when you have to cut random holes in your tarp to pitch it in ackward situations.

This shows the 52 feet of nothingness under my hammock.

The blue square tarp on the ground is directly underneath my hammock. It was used to keep the tail of my climbing rope clean.

And one last picture! This was my view while eating breakfast.

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For any of you veterans that hammock high in the trees please feel free to give me constructive criticism for my future excursions. I hope you guys enjoyed the pictures!

felt the same when i first got into my ENO...then the discovery of a ridgeline...then the almighty whoopies and amsteel blue....I have an ENO double with me all the time, never know when the need to deploy it arises everyone quits giving me a hard time when im the only one with a super versatile way to relax

HAHA, if I was going to have one gripe about hammocking at height (can I call it canopy camping?) it would be peeing while wearing a harness. I ALWAYS drink too much water before bed and when you combine the fear of leaning over the edge and the difficulty of trying to get the body parts out from between the harness and the pants you have yourself one really crummy situation.

Details on your load out would be nice, what equipment you choose, goals of doing it, what you have seen, etc

I would love to share those details! My ultimate goal is to find the tallest tree in MN and then SLEEP IN IT! Unfortunately all of the monster trees (200 foot tall white pines) have been logged into extinction in my state and all we got left are the sub 100 foot trees.

THE DIY HAMMOCK (goal: a simple hammock under $25 that WON'T fail)
--12'x5' sheet of 1.9oz ripstop nylon
--Two 4' pieces of 1" climbing spec webbing TIED into each end of the fabric (that way no stitches can fail!)
--30' of 11mm PMI static climbing rope tied with figure 8's to each branch for the ridgeline (this gives you something sturdy to hold onto when climbing in and out of the hammock)
--4 loops of mil spec paracord (2 on each end) tied to the ridgeline using prusik knots
--2 climbing spec carabiners to connect the paracord to the hammock's webbing loops
--I just sold my solo tent (I will never sleep on the ground AGAIN!) and am waiting for the money to make a silnylon tarp.

THE SLEEPGEAR (This setup works to about 25 degrees.)
--XL Ridgerest. The extra width was mandatory for below freezing temperatures.
--Montbell UL Spiral Downhugger 3. I love this bag.
--Synthetic jacket to stuff inbetween the gap that the climbing rope creates as it exits the sleeping bag.

On a recent backpacking trip we brought our rockclimbing gear and did a bunch of exploring. Ever since then backpacking in the flat wilderness has been sorta boring and that is when this idea popped into my head. I have been rock climbing for 3 years and have learned all of the anchor setting skills and knots over that time period. Applying that knowledge to canopy camping was super easy. TheHangingTechy, just let me know if you want me to list the minimum climbing gear you would need to get started.